Organicity: Utopia, or a new model for sustainable urban development?

Urban design now recognises the need for alternatives to soulless and dispiriting residential developments located far from jobs, schools, shops, leisure and social opportunities. There is a rising awareness, too, that in its quest for short-term returns, conventional speculative property development passes onto communities the long-term risks of biodiversity loss, social fragmentation, environmental degradation, energy and transport costs, and more. Explored here is a prototype for an alternative model to residential development that puts holistic resilience and sustainability first. In these compact “urban cells”, cars have been designed out. Work is local and self-sufficiency in power, water and food is possible. Social cohesion is allowed to emerge. Importantly, the financial instruments needed to seed and grow such communities already exist.